Big, Bad, Scary Neighbors

Last night Gary and I watched To Kill a Mockingbird. I had an ADD attack and noticed something that's somewhat beside-the-point in the movie: the kids had a big, bad, scary neighbor who wasn't really bad.

When I was little, we had a neighbor across the street that scared all the kids. We were afraid to walk on the sidewalk in front of her house. Some of the kids said she was a witch. I can't remember if she ever actually came out and yelled at any of us or threatened any of us, but we were convinced that she would. I was afraid of getting hit by her broom. Because of the fear factor, it was considered the height of bravery among the children to go do something pesty to her -- like walking on the sidewalk by her house AND making a lot of noise while you did.

I asked Gary if he had neighbors who had a similar reputation. He did.

Is this something common to childhood? Or maybe it WAS common to childhood. My kids grew up without neighbors (for the most part) so there was nobody to be frightened of. It could be that children are allowed outside on their own so little these days, and they have so few friends in the neighborhood these days, and even grown-ups know their neighbors so little these days, that maybe such fears are confined to a bygone era.

But now I wonder if those big, bad, scary neighbors were just nice, normal people who were annoyed by children stealing their apples or berries, or throwing rocks at their roof. Maybe the big, bad, scary neighbors weren't unreasonable at all, but just gained the reputation. I don't know. I guess I'm wondering if I'll grow up to be a big, bad, scary neighbor myself.